Page 36 of Small-Town Secrets
"He's testing the waters." Aaron shrugged, putting the plate with pancakes on the table. "I'm just glad he's not scared of me anymore. ThatwasTyler, wasn't it?"
"Yes." I leaned forward intrigued. "How did you know?" It was easy formeto tell the twins apart, but most people struggled.
"He grabbed the pancakes with his left hand," Aaron said as if it was no big deal that he'd noticed this. "Tyler's left-handed. I noticed it at the gym. It's a pretty obvious give-away."
It was. But Howard had always claimed it was impossible to remember if the lefty was Chris or Tyler, and 'what did it matter, anyway? We should get them both to use their right hand like normal people do.'
Trying to get Tyler to use his right hand more had led to a lot of crying and frustrated temper tantrums, though. That was the first time I stood up to Howard, to put a stop to that. It was a long and drawn-out fight and I carried a few battle scars away from it, but in the end, I got what I wanted. Howard never mentioned Tyler's handedness anymore after that and my baby returned to being happy.
While I was reminiscing, the twins entered the kitchen and took seats at the table.
"Daddy, you want syrup?" Chris asked, heaping two pancakes on my plate.
"Yes, thank you, baby," I said, absent-mindedly.
"You have to eat if you want to grow big," Chris told me as he handed me the syrup.
I had to laugh at that. Honestly, these kids... I caught Aaron's gaze. He was smiling too.
"Listen to your son," he said, filling his own plate.
I felt my smile fade.
Your son.
How would I ever tell him that Chris washisson too?
* * *
The daythe boys got their yellow belt in Karate, we took them to Andrew's for a feast. Andrew's was the best burger shop in Oceanport and my twins stuffed their faces as if they'd never gotten a proper meal in their lives.
"This is awesome," Tyler explained around the fries in his mouth.
"You're gross," his brother said, nudging his side.
"You'regross." Tyler threw a handful of fries at Chris.
"Stop it, both of you," I reprimanded them sharply, because I saw Chris reaching for the mayonnaise with a war cry on his lips. "No food fights or we're going home immediately." Seriously, it was bad enough when they did this at home. Did they have to embarrass me in public too?
In part, though, it was my own fault that they didn't have a lot of experience with eating out. I hadn't had the money to treat them in a long time.
"Sorry, Daddy," they said in perfect unison. If only because they knew I could never resist them and their puppy eyes when they teamed up on me.
"Just behave yourselves," I said, picking at my own burger. The food was greasy and salty and perfect, but I wasn't really tasting it. We'd been staying at Aaron's place for a week now, and the alpha's constant presence was slowly but surely driving me insane. Living with Gregory had been easier in that regard; I wasn't attracted to Gregory after all.
But every time Aaron did something nice for me or the children, I wanted to kiss him. Every time he came within touching distance and I breathed in his scent, my cock twitched, giving me a painful reminder of how long it had been since I'd gotten laid.
And now he was sitting next to me and there was so little space at this table that his thigh rubbed mine every now and then and the heat of his body so close to mine was all I could think about.
My eyes kept darting to the dark scruff on his jaw. He hadn't shaved in a few days and I kind of liked the look. I watched him pick up one of his fries and close his lips around it.
How far had I fallen that I was jealous of a piece of fried potato?
Aaron glanced at me and I quickly averted my gaze.
Smooth.
"Anything wrong?" He asked as if he wasn't feeling any tension at all.
